cadet blogs

Sorry about my absence but I’ve been a little busy this semester. I am playing on our women’s lacrosse team and I love it! In addition, I’ve been taking more of my major-specific classes and learning about physical oceanography and marine geochemistry. I have to say that the semester is flying as there are only four weeks left of classes before I take finals and then begin 100th week.

I guess I’ll talk to you today about how my cadet career is about to change. Up until this point, I have been seen as a follower; I am expected to follow the rules and to do as I am told, respecting authority and following blindly all orders that apply to me. Even though I have not been taking out the trash, or squaring my meals this year, I am still on a very low level of the totem pole, expected only to follow the rules more closely as to become a pseudo-model for the fourth class to see. As I completed my duties as a fourth class and a third class, I found it hard or impossible to see that “light” at the end of the tunnel, the beacon that would bring leadership, or at least the ability to take on more responsibility. The time has come for me and the class of 2016, now in the final stretch of second semester third class year, to discover the weight and meaning of leadership. I guess it started when I applied for a leadership position within Delta Company. Second class cadets are expected to fill the roles of assistants to the department heads (Master at Arms) and one second class each semester to be the Guidon, which is the leader of the fourth class, upholding them to the standards of the Academy, and leading them through their first semesters. I am not sure whether or not I qualified for the positions, but applying for them opened my eyes, as I had to produce a semi-leadership philosophy.

This summer I will be a cadre. Waterfront 1 cadre. I think that the weirdest part about this is that I might be more nervous to be a cadre than I was to be a swab. My goal during Swab Summer two years ago was to survive, to make it through the summer to the school year. But this summer, that isn’t an option. I am going to be standing duty, watching over the incoming swabs, teaching the swabs how to sail and the rules of the road. I will not only be expected to perform these duties, but it will be up to me to inspire the Class of 2018 to become members of the Corps of Cadets. I am ready and willing to take on this challenge but I know that it’s not going to be easy. This is the transition point, and I wish that time would slow down enough for me to see the transformation and to anticipate it, but instead, at the rate at which time is moving, I think that the next time I blink my eyes, there are going to be two stripes on my arm, and I will be a leader and not a follower.

I hope that everyone is having a nice spring, and I hope that spring starts to act like the spring we all need it to be :)